Day 26, Thursday March 26th: Yosemite

Thursday morning it was 43F when we got up..brrr. We decided to do the most popular hike in Yosemite, Vernal Fall via the Mist Trail.  It is called the Mist Trail for obvious reasons. We set out for Curry village about 09:00 on the scooter, it was about 50F and it is a 45 minute ride...a bit chilly. We looked around Curry Village for a while, it is quite interesting, it has over 400 tents with some cabins; it is a city of mostly young people here to enjoy Yosemite. 

About 10:30 we set off for Vernal Falls, the sign at the trail head said this trail gets 3000 hikers per day in peak season. The trail gets steep pretty fast and then gets steeper and harder; so although 3000 per day start, I am guessing a lot less get past the Vernal Fall footbridge (about 1 mile) because it gets even steeper and wet after that. 

The view from the Vernal Fall footbridge is amazing and if you keep going you better be wearing rain gear, I brough my rain coat, June's coat was fleece...doh. 

Vernal Falls

We stopped on the stairs for a picture before we got wet. 

June was warm so had taken off her fleece and was glad to have it after the heavy "mist".

I took a short video, that really doesn't do justice to the spectacular fall that is roaring over the cliff with deafening thunder.

By the time we passed the fall we were completely soaked and a bit cold. The climb to the top is up over 600 steep stair steps cut into the rock that are wet and slippery, it is a hard climb that will make you too hot and too cold at the same time. 

We arrived at the top about 11:40, so it only took an hour and 10 minutes to get to the top of Vernal Fall.

Top of Vernal Fall

The top of the fall is a large flat rock area where people take a break or just hang out. 

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View from the Top of Vernal Fall

The views at the top of Vernal Fall are just amazing. 

Looking over Vernal Fall

June would not lean over the railing and look over the falls....it does make you a little dizzy looking over the 317 foot water fall .

We could definitely feel the climb in our old legs so had a snack and set out for Nevada Fall, another 1.5 miles up steep rocky switchbacks. 

Top of Nevada Fall

The top of Nevada Fall is open with flat rocks, with a lot less people than at Vernal Fall since it is a difficult climb.  Again the views are spectacular.

At this point I looked at my tracker which I turned on when we left the scooter, we had clocked 4.6 miles. We planned to continue past Nevada Fall and take the John Muir Trail back down, since we prefer to not backtrack. 

We hiked about a 1/4 mile and the trail was closed....not very nice of the park to not post that the trail is closed back at the top of Nevada Fall.  

So we doubled back and started back for Vernal Fall, but did take a detour to Clark Point and pickup the John Muir trail there; it is longer but it avoids going down the 600+ wet steps by Vernal Fall.  It does require a climb up to 5400 ft which we expected would give some good views. 

Hikers

You never know what you will see on these hikes. 

Vernal Fall from Clark Point

We were not disappointed, as we got higher we got a beautiful view of Vernal Fall. 

Half Dome, Mt Broderick, Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall

Clark Point also provided spectacular views of Half Dome, Mt Broderick, Liberty Cap and Nevada Fall. 

Cooling off

We were high and in the shade on this section, and there was snow along the way.  

By the time we got back to the scooter is was 16:30, we had been hiking 6 hours and were pretty bushed.  I looked at my tracker, we logged 10.5 miles (getting back to the scooter) and climbed over a mile in elevation, no wonder we were tired. 

Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall Hike

Vernal Fall and Nevada Fall hike. 

We scootered back to the Serenity, another 45 mins, had dinner and retired early....pooped,

Friday, we don't yet have a plan, we may do some easy hikes around the visitor center, and spend another night. We will celebrate Fred's birthday somehow.